"I never realized it would come down to the last race like that." – Lyndon Rutland

Leading the Super Comp standings late in the season can be like leading a 1980s NASCAR race with one lap to go: Sometimes, it's better to be second. Doug Doll was the sitting duck in first place when second-ranked Lyndon Rutland, like Cale Yarborough on the last lap of one of those old superspeedway races, slingshot past him to win the national championship on the final day of the season.

Rutland never led until Sunday at the Automobile Club of Southern California NHRA Finals. Three-fourths of his points were earned after mid-August, half of them in the last month of the season. "I never realized it would come down to the last race like that," Rutland said. "I almost didn't go." Rutland nearly skipped the last three races (the national and divisional events in Las Vegas and the Finals in Pomona), even though they routinely decide championships.

Both Vegas races were huge disappointments. Rutland narrowly red-lighted in round two at the national event against an opponent who had a .160 light, and, in round four of the divisional, when he was a round away from clinching the Division 4 title, a lifter broke. "If it wasn't for my buddy Shannon Brinkley and all the other racers getting behind me and telling me I'd better go to Pomona, I would have gone home," he said.

The unlikely prospect of overtaking Doll for the national championship grew even more remote when Rutland had to borrow a car, son Lance's dragster, for the Finals. There, things immediately got worse when a stator tube twisted on the burnout on Rutland's first time shot and he ran a useless 9.03 on the next one.

After an 8.87 breakout and a -.007 red-light (both intentional) on his last time trial, eliminations loomed. From the tower, Doll watched.

Kevin Kleineweber, Craig Anderson, Shane Carr (who lost to Rutland), and Brinkley had been eliminated from title contention in Vegas; only Rock Haas and Rutland still had a shot in Pomona. Each won his first-round race.

"Just give me a green light so I have a chance - maybe the other guy will break out," Rutland thought at the time. He cut the first of consecutive .023 lights, opponent Jason Kenny had a .028, and both ran 8.95s, with Rutland in front by 12-thousandths when they went across the line.

In round two, Rutland faced what should have been his toughest challenge: 1998 national champion and 2003 runner-up Gary Stinnett. "I knew how to race Stinnett," Rutland said. "I felt I had to be fast and wheel-race him because if I was slow, he'd get out in front of me, take the stripe, stay over .90, and win."

Rutland survived a double breakout against Stinnett and moved on to race Rodger Comstock Saturday night in round three, the most exciting round of his title run. "The car started moving around on the big end, and I almost had to lift," he said. "I was watching him to 1,000 foot, and then no more. I had to look where I was going. The car was getting pretty sideways, but I couldn't give up because the stripe was coming up and I was almost there. I couldn't believe it when the win light came on."

It almost didn't. Rutland left first by five-thousandths and got there first by four-thousandths, 8.925 to 8.924. One pair ahead of him, Haas bowed out with a -.010 foul against Brinkley.

Rutland's 10-thousandths package Sunday in round four left Jim Lirones little room to operate. Lirones had a .009 light, but Rutland was out first with a .004 and wife Tammy, who dials the car, put the car right on the number.

Then came round five against Todd Stewart - one run for the championship. Twenty years of drag racing came down to one run against one of Super Comp's hardest cars to judge at the finish line.

"Everyone told me, 'Look out, this guy goes 185,' " Rutland said. "We crossed, and he was in front of me, and I knew he had to break out for me to win."

Stewart did break out with an 8.85, and Rutland won it all with an 8.89.

Distracted by the late-afternoon sun and by the fact that minutes earlier he had won a national championship, Rutland deep-staged in the semifinals against Jon Brazeau and was automatically disqualified.

"I was still shaking from winning the round before," Rutland said. "I didn't have my concentration because of everything that was going on. I could hardly see the bulb, and I was trying to position myself in the car so I could see it. I noticed that the track looked faster, and I was reaching down to change my timer and slow myself down a little and thinking about taking some time out of the delay box, too. When I looked up, I had crept forward and already had both lights on. As soon as I hit the pedal, the light started flickering, and I knew it was over, but at that point, I didn't care. I felt like I'd already won."

Rutland's 2004 Track Record (618 points)
Southern Nationals	Semifinals
Cherokee County Motorsports Park (Div. 4)	Third round
State Capitol Dragway (Div. 4)	Won event
Mid-South Nationals	Fifth round
Thunder Valley Raceway Park (Div. 4)	Fifth round
No Problem Raceway (Div. 4)	Runner-up
The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (Div. 7)	Fourth round
Automobile Club of Southern California NHRA Finals	Semifinals